1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



647 



the men who have made the greatest strides, 

 and perhaps done the most g:ood, came from 

 very humole homes? In regard to T. B. 

 Terry, it was my good pleasure to make a 

 call on him last week, and the graham bread 

 that was given us pleased me so much that I 

 asked a lot of questions about it. At length 

 friend Terry said, "Oh! see here, Mr. Root. 

 I have something to show you about that 

 graham bread." 



He led the whole crowd of us into the 

 kitchen and got out his little grinder and 

 screwed it on to the table. It is called a 

 Quaker City milT No. 4. He got it of Mont- 

 gomery Ward & Co., and it cost only three 

 or four dollars. With that little mill they 

 grind the wheat that was grown on their 

 own farm, and the graham flour made in 

 that mill is what produced that beautiful 

 graliam bread. Now, I can not think there 

 are many people in the United States who 

 find it hard work to get enough good whole- 

 some food. If they do, let them get one of 

 these little mills, then buy some good clean 

 wheat — that is, if they can not raise it them- 

 selves — and make their own graham flour. 

 Cut off the profits, not only of the miller, but 

 the middleman, the grocer, and the baker. 

 Make a short cut from the wheat to the bread 

 on the table, then chew it long and well, just 

 as T. B. Terry has been urging us to do for 

 years past, and just as Fletcher has been urg- 

 ing in the same way. A few cents a day will 

 pay for the wheat; and this poor family (or 

 anybody else) will enjoy better health than 

 ever before. Instead of costing such a lot of 

 money to live, something can be saved up 

 for a rainy day or to take care of the baby 

 when it comes. To come right down to the 

 point, is it necessary to go to the expense of 

 a hired girl and a great lot of useless things, 

 just because a b,aby has come or is coming 

 into the home? 



You say the necessaries of life are soaring 

 higher each year. Let them "soar." Live 

 as Terry does, and as Mrs. Root and I do, 

 even now, and be happy. I believe in edu- 

 cation; but such an education as Mrs. Root 

 and I both received does not cost any money. 

 May the Lord be praised for our free schools. 

 Very likely it is not always best to go out and 

 get a child and bring it into the home; but I 

 think that, in the great majority of cases, 

 not only would the childless parents be great- 

 ly benefited, but there would be fewer grow- 

 ing up to make criminals just because nobody 

 would take the trouble to look after them and 

 lead them in the straight and narrow way. 



I want to thank you for having called my 

 attention to that splendid article, "Reluctant 

 Parentage," by Woods Hutchinson, M. D. I 

 had read it before you mentioned it, but I 

 have gone over it carefully again. There is 

 so much of good in it that I have taken the 

 liberty to clip the following: 



The moment that any woman discovers she is mar- 

 ried to a drunkard, a libertine, a brute, or a criminal, 

 she outrht, in my opinion, to be set free from him, not 

 merely for her own sake and for that of thp children 

 already born, but still more for the sake of those who 

 never outrht to be born. And the state should provide 

 liberally for her support and that of her children. 

 When this has once been accomplished we may beifin 



to look for a real and effective elimination of the un- 

 fit, a diminishinu of crime and pauperism, and a new 

 standard of purity in the marriaere relationship, which 

 many will find it difficult to live up to. 



Now notice the grand sentiment in the next 

 paragraph: 



There is no achievement better worth living for, no 

 more valuable leiracy that can be left to the future, no 

 more enduring claim to honorable remembrance, than 

 a family of well-born, well-reared children. And this 

 feeling is showing itself already, and steadily spread- 

 ing among the great intelligent upper stratum of the 

 middle class, the people of which are the real aris- 

 tocracy of any country. 



I want to express a hearty amen to the 

 above sentiment. When we come down to 

 old age, who does not feel a little reluctant 

 about leaving the world without anybody to 

 come after him, and keep up his good name, 

 and preserve a kindly remembrance of the 

 life he lived? May God help us in our ef- 

 forts to do our part in fulfilling the command 

 to "replenish the earth and subdue it " 



This question of rearing a family of children 

 touches chosely on the matter of help in the 

 home. Right here in our own neighborhood 

 there is a constant complaint because the 

 help available is not only expensive but very 

 inefficient; but my constant reply to the 

 mothers of my acquaintance is that God is 

 striving to teach us all wholesome and im- 

 portant lessons; and then if we would only 

 recognize his loving hand in it all, and let 

 that loving hand lead us, we shall get out of 

 all our troubles and perplexities in this line. 

 Notwithstanding the vehement protests and 

 teachings of T. B. Terry, Fletcher, and Cor- 

 nari, of long ago, our tables are still loaded 

 with dishes so it takes a hired girl almost the 

 whole forenoon to wash them up and put 

 them away; and with such a multitude to 

 handle, many dishes are broken. These 

 countless dishes are needed because of the 

 dessert and pie and other things that not 

 only load the tables, but destroy digestion, 

 and, as a result, require the services of ex- 

 pensive physicians, or even make it neces- 

 sary to go to a hospital to undergo an opera- 

 tion; and then, besides all this, we have ban- 

 quets in the evening at a "dollar a plate," 

 and I am urged to attend because some dis- 

 tinguished editor or clergyman is going to 

 speak I am getting so i dread the very 

 mention of a banquet. May God be praised 

 that there are at least a few like myself, 

 Terry, and Fletcher, who have cut off all of 

 these unnecessary and pernicious things. I 

 have heard of a few people who say that they 

 would rather live fewer years, and have a 

 "good time " while they do live. All right. 

 It is your privilege to follow the prevailing 

 fashion if you wish. A good friend of mine 

 gave as a reason for not wanting hired girls 

 in his home (I do not like the term "hired 

 girl;" I much prefer to say "help in the 

 home") was that he said his grown-up 

 daughters thought it a fine thing to ring for 

 the "help" whenever they wanted a drink 

 of water. This help was expected to bring 

 a glass of water placed on a dainty little nap- 

 kin on a suitable platter. The reason for all 

 this fuss and trouble was that it was the lat- 

 est style to be served in that way. 



